Radio & TV Fall: Will Pay-Mediums Follow?

Thanks to Michele over at A Small Victory, we find out that at least one person at the FCC thinks some standards should apply to cable and satellite radio and television providers, just as they do to the “over the air” stations.

I’m trying to hold off on really just releasing my overall feelings on this subject because I, unfortunately, don’t have a day editor. But I truly think this is just going overboard. Someone on Don Imus’ radio show this week (and I think Don even repeated it) mentioned that it felt like we were going back to the 50’s, and I’d have to agree – even though I’m 20 years removed from that era. I don’t need a watchdog patrolling everything I pay to see/hear. I like my cable television the way it is. There are “limits” on what comes on at certain hours, mostly because the stations are trying to have some decency by not showing a lot of explicit sexual situations at hours before 10pm, and there are rating systems that cover every single program.

Europe is a lot less hardheaded about this, and they aren’t exactly going down the toilet, are they? Why can’t we just go the way we’re going, have some decency on television without thinking anytime that extra second button is opened on the newscaster’s blouse that she’s obviously going to have it torn off by a gaffer or something. Let’s be sensitive to the public’s concerns without diving headfirst off the high dive into the empty pool.